The GODS of HOLLYWOOD

Movies have always been great source of entertainment, inspiration and way of living for most of the viewers over their entire life cycle. More gossip is enjoyed over them between friends than any other subject and it has always been who sees it first race among the followers. I am myself a great follower of Hollywood movies and my viewing averages 12 to 15 of them per month and I have always wondered about the people who had made it happen. I would like to mention and credit the work of twelve Hollywood directors/producers who according to me are true GODS of HOLLYWOOD.

Steven Spielberg: He has always been experimenting with various ideas on science fiction, war stories and special effects including aliens or monster creatures. He is best known for his Jurassic Park series, Schindler's List, Jaws, E.T., Minority Report, Indiana Jones Series, Transformer series, Men in Black series (as executive producer) as well as war stories such as Saving Private Ryan, War Horse, Black Hawk Down and Enemy at the Gates. Some of his work on the lighter side which can be counted as commercial success include Catch me if you Can, Adventures of Tintin and The Terminal. His other movies which won him critical acclaim are Munich, A.I. and Amistad. Truly one of the most gifted personality in current Hollywood fraternity who had truly added the word great ahead of Hollywood films.

James Cameron: His every outing is as grand as celebration of life. His canvas of movies stretches beyond imagination and he always taken viewers on a journey of fantasy and visual treats. He is best known for his Terminator series, Alien, The Abyss, Titanic and Avatar. Even though he has always been in his own different league, Titanic and Avatar (creation of whole new planet) had immortalised him in the world of Hollywood.

Clint Eastwood: He is one personality who had successfully donned the hat of Actor, Director and Producer in many Hollywood masterpieces and can easily be termed as one of the most versatile personality of the motion pictures. He will be always known for his work in Unforgiven, Million Dollar Baby, Mystic River, Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima. Some of the other critically acclaimed work by him worth mentioning is Changeling, J. Edgar, Invictus and Gran Torino. He clearly displays the true never dying spirit of Hollywood.

Christopher Nolan: According to me he is the master of intelligence. The Dark Knight Trilogy, Inception, Memento and The Prestige are shear brilliant works of intelligence. All these have garnered standing ovation from the movie buffs like me and I have always believed that somehow this gifted personality missed on his due credit from the world of Hollywood even after changing the game of how motion pictures are created.

Quentin Tarantino: He is master of blood and gore. He is best known for his work in Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill series, Inglorious Bastards and Django Unchained. Even though his creations are coming after long durations yet his crafty work cannot be ignored easily. He has given true meaning to the world of raw action but with a heart filled sorrow.

Ang Lee: With his recent success at OSCARS with Life of Pi, he has been termed as one of the most promising creator of movies with a heart. His truly amazing works include Brokeback Mountain, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Life of Pi and Hulk. Leaving apart his great work in the past, much more heart filled work at grand canvas is expected of him the coming years.

Tim Burton: He is the master of horror tales and thankfully most of them had happy endings LOL so there is always a heart-warming twist for good. His creative works in the formidable league are Batman series, Sleepy Hollow, Alice in Wonderland, Planet of the Apes, Big Fish, Mars Attacks, Corpse Bride, Sweeny Todd, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Pee-wee's Big Adventure, Dark Shadows, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter and Frankenweenie. Johnny Depp has lately featured in many of his horror adventures and essayed the grey roles quite easily. According to me he can be easily termed as the one who has given meaning to the world of dark movies.

Peter Jackson: How can we forget the adventure of The Lord of the Rings which he had given to the world of movie buffs. Every instalment is a masterpiece in itself and I am sure it will continue with the on-going prequel series of The Hobbits. King Kong, Tintin, Heavenly Creatures, The Lovely bones and District 9 are some of the other brilliant work from him. Dreams and world of fantasy will always have name of this personality written in golden words in their hall of fame.

Martin Scorsese: The moment you hear his name associated with any movie, you are sure you are in for a helluva ride. Shutter Island, Gangs of New York, The Departed, Hugo, The Aviator, Raging Bull, Casino, Cape Fear, Goodfellas and The Age of Innocence are some of his masterpiece works over decades. His movies always manage to keep you at the edge of your seat with story folding at its own pace. You can just sit and watch the marvels he has created. His liking for Leonardo DiCaprio is quite visible in his recent works and the gifted actor has also never let him down in any of the outings.

Ridley Scott: Although till date he has only done selected work but he has always been able to churn out heart felt stories or science fiction treats. Best known for his work in Alien, Gladiator, Black Hawk Down, Prometheus, Robin Hood, Kingdom of Heavens, American Gangster, Matchstick Men and Blade Runner. He has always shown his affinity with the history and science and we can expect many more heart-warming stories from him in the future.

David Fincher: He has always been a balanced story teller and created some of the fine works of art. His noticeable pieces of works are Zodiac, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Social Network, Seven, Alien 3, Fight Club, The Game, Panic Room and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. He has always knitted intelligence and suspense brilliantly in many of his works and his contemporary way of storytelling has won him many followers over the years.

Steven Soderbergh: He has always been known for his controversial subjects and treatment of tales from the neighbourhood. Some of his famous works as director include Traffic, Ocean's Eleven series, Contagion, Haywire, Erin Brockovich, The Informant and Out of Sight. As producer also he has developed masterpieces such as Insomnia, Syriana, Michael Clayton, Solitary Man, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Criminal and The Jacket. I am sure he will continue to give us more thought provoking movies in the coming years but as of now according to me he is one of the most prominent members of Hollywood hall of fame.

These 12 personalities have given much more to the viewers than they had given to Hollywood itself. These intelligence minds have created worlds of their own and truly can be termed as GODS of HOLLYWOOD. Sometimes they are inspiration, sometimes they entertain, sometimes they make you think and sometimes they give you pain. Whatever it is, you live a whole new life during their movies and forget about your problems just to live in the moment and that is what my heart whispers to me.....

New Entrepreneur: Fire, Steel and Ice

Any new entrepreneur (like me LOL) always arrive at the business arena on wings of hope and with raging fire in the belly to do something great in the world and make lot of name as well as money. But as the time passes by he/she understands that it is not as simple as living a dream instead for successful ones it turns out to be great saga of three elements Fire, Steel and Ice whereas the unsuccessful ones loses themselves in the world of despair. Before we dwell further I would first like to congratulate the successful ones for achieving the great feat which very few can actually dream of and second I would also like to congratulate the unsuccessful ones because in this world very few have guts to do what they had done.

Any new entrepreneur always pass through these three phases of the entrepreneurship saga (until and unless you have a back-up of loads of your parents money to ride on because then failures do not come with a price dear to you). So all the budding entrepreneurs and my fellow businessmen, it's time for the show to begin.

Fire: At first every new entrepreneur's mind buzzes with new ideas and innovations. The idea of name and fame, dreams of luxury and loads of money, almost certainly convince him/her to go for the new business as the raging fire in the belly and fog from its smoke clouds their judgement of what can go wrong and why. They fail to interpret that there will be plenty of people during their journey which will affect the outcome of their plans. But do not worry guys this itself is a big accomplishment that you have at least decided to live your dream (because now a days most of the people have restricted their dream to a good job with handsome pay-out) and this requires helluva lot of guts to give up an easy life for your entrepreneurship ambition. Trust me this element 'Fire' is very essential for your future success and you will go as far as you keep that fire raging in your belly and your dreams hunger for more.

Steel: During the journey of being a successful entrepreneur, you always realise that it is actually much more than just your ambition of money and fame. Not only yours but so many other families (of your employees / suppliers / associates) depend upon you and your decisions. There are times when you will come across rejection, desperation (for business, for money and most likely for peace of mind) and frustration. It is very difficult to accept failures and move ahead but you have to understand that what else you can expect on the path to success and that is why the path has been created otherwise it will not be required at all. Those who move ahead know the importance of our second element 'Steel' and those who want to move ahead must always remember that most of the stories end with sadness and desperation without this element. Now by this element steel I do not want you to make yourself steel physically (so after reading this blog please do not go and hit your gym ..LOL..) but make yourself steel mentally. Face the failures bravely (since nobody else is going to come to help you without any of their hidden agendas), try to find a way out of it or around it or whatever but hang on with the thread of hope and do not give up. Keep on moving ahead because if you will stop now, you will not be able to make a move at a later stage since that will hardly come as this cruel world of business does not give many chances. Avoid too much of desperation or frustration since either people known / unknown to you will try to take advantage of you or mostly your near ones will tell you push you to change the track. Do not worry guys about any of them as it is very easy to preach and give suggestions whereas it is very difficult to be in your shoes and live your dream and your life. People suggest or advice freely but do not help so ignore them but be careful about the people who want to take your advantage. So make yourself steel to face all these challenges and always remember anybody who have helped you in these difficult times so that you can show your gratitude later when you have reached your goal.

Ice: Now if you are able to pass the two phases of entrepreneurship, it's time to taste some success in your endeavour. However be careful, it is time to make yourself like our third element 'Ice'. Always remember do not melt away with the initial success as the key is sustainability of this success. We come across many stories where people go to top very fast but go down even faster. Now is the time not to enjoy but to first remove all your liabilities as soon as possible and reach to a stable ground in order to build strongly further. Do not spend to live in the present but save for the future contingencies. I know it is very difficult since you have suffered a lot but trust me if you do not want to suffer again in the future be ice to all these things. Enjoy but do not be an extravagant and most importantly be careful about the bee like false friends who will come along with your success as they are there only till you are on top.

If you are able to manage all these three elements in your business life, trust me nobody can stop you from achieving success. I am also going through the second phase now and hanging with the thread of hope and doing my level best to achieve success which I am sure will definitely come as that is what my heart whispers to me............

3 Laws of Wealth

Recently while revisiting Newton's laws of motion; somewhere back of my mind I was also bickering over the current economic condition in the country as well as in the world. Both the stream of thoughts got merged (god only knows when) and I was surprised by the similarities between the motion and the wealth of an entity. Unable to contain the growing desperation, I thought it will be wise to pen down the 3 Laws of Wealth which my mind created but with strong references from our great Newton's laws of motion (so please do not charge me with plagiarism):

First Law: If there is no net effort (mental / physical / social / political) behind an entity or an individual, then its wealth will remain constant. The entity or individual is either enjoying its inherited money (LOL) or its income is increasing at a rate (meagre salary increments) getting negated by the inflation and rising costs.

Second Law: The increase in wealth 'I' of an entity or an individual is parallel and directly proportional to the net effort 'E' (mental / physical / social / political) generated by the entity or the individual, is in the direction of the efforts, and is inversely proportional to its expenditures and borrowings collectively called as liabilities 'L'. E = LI

Third Law: When an entity or an individual creates a wealth W1 in the economy, somewhere in the environment a second entity or an individual loses a wealth W2 = -W1. This means that W1 and W2 are equal in magnitude and opposite in direction.

These 3 laws of wealth holds true considering that at a given point of time, the overall wealth available and that can be generated in the entire world remains constant. Just see the simple application of the above laws: If you purchase something, manufacturers, dealers, government (LOL through taxes) earn that money which is spent by you. If you will not put any extra efforts, you will not be able to earn extra money. The more liabilities you have, more efforts you have to put in to generate that extra money. I am not sure what will be your take on these laws but they are fully applicable to me and that is what my heart whispers to me..........